Darren Adam Heitner, Esq. is the Founder of HEITNER LEGAL, Founder/CEO of Dynasty Dealings, LLC, Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University Bloomington, Co-Founder of Collegiate Sports Advisors (CSA) and Founder/Chief Editor of Sports Agent Blog, a leading niche industry publication. He is an attorney licensed to practice on the state and federal level, and focuses on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property litigation and transactional work.
Darren is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know (published by the American Bar Association), Contributing Writer of An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5th Edition, and has authored many sports, entertainment and intellectual property-related Law Journal articles.
Darren has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the same institution.

NFL Replacement Referees Have Compromised The Game's Integrity And League's Position On Sports Betting

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: NFL replacement referees discuss a play during a game between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders at Sun Life Stadium. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

If you want to see the twenty-eight worst mistakes that NFL replacement referees made during Week 2, sports commentary website Deadspinhas the breakdown. If there is interest in reading about all of the blunders in real time, just do a Twitter search of “replacement ref” and follow the myriad of tweets attacking the replacement referees’ decisions (or general indecision, which has been criticized for slowing down NFL games). A player slipped on a referee’s thrown hat in the end zone, a referee reportedly told Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy that he needed him to perform well for his fantasy football team, and multiple referees appear to be having trouble remembering how many timeouts remain for various teams.

The result of constant replacement referee missteps is an abundance of questions asking whether the integrity of the NFL game is in serious jeopardy. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines integrity as “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” For a league that has been hell-bent to prevent the demise of its product, its hard-line approach in the ongoing negotiations with the NFL Referees Association is apocryphal.

The NFL is currently a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the State of New Jersey’s Governor, Assistant Attorney General, and Executive Director of the New Jersey Racing Commission, which seeks to prevent the state of New Jersey from establishing a sports gambling system. In 2009, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell explained that “NFL owners and players have worked hard from the league’s inception nearly 90 years ago to protect its integrity,” and thus, the NFL has taken the position that gambling on NFL games should be prohibited. Goodell’s stance has not changed since he first expressed that opinion.

On August 10, the NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL filed a motion for summary judgment in its suit against New Jersey. Commissioner Roger Goodell drafted a declaration in support of the motion, which makes many references to the integrity of football, including,

“As Commissioner of the NFL, my most important responsibility is maintaining the integrity of professional football, and preserving public confidence in the NFL.

The great popularity of NFL football, and the goodwill it has achieved with its fans and the public as a whole, is rooted in the integrity of the game itself. NFL football stands for clean, healthy competition, and rewards hard work, dedication, and honest effort. Maintaining these values and the highest integrity of the game of professional football is a critical aspect of the NFL’s goodwill.

The spread of sports betting, including the introduction of sports betting as proposed by the state of New Jersey, threatens to damage irreparably the integrity of, and public confidence in, NFL football.

Once the character and integrity of NFL football have been compromised, and the bonds of loyalty and devotion between fans and teams have been broken, NFL football will have been irreparably injured in a manner that cannot adequately be calculated in dollars.” (emphasis added)

Has the imposition of replacement referees compromised the character and integrity of NFL football? Arguably, the character and integrity of NFL football has been damaged (at least temporarily). Further, Roger Goodell’s stance on sports betting has become almost disingenuous. How can he claim that the spread of sports betting (which is completely legal in Nevada) threatens to irreparably damage the integrity of NFL football while he continues to employ replacement referees that are unjustly affecting the outcome of NFL games? If Goodell’s most important responsibility is maintaining integrity, then he has some explaining to do. The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) agrees.

On September 20, the NFLPA sent a letter to owners of all NFL teams concerning the claimed negative impact on football resulting from the NFL’s lockout of referees. The second paragraph of the letter says,

“Your decision to lock out officials with more than 1,500 years of collective NFL experience has led to a deterioration of order, safety and integrity. This affirmative decision has not only resulted in poor calls, missed calls and bad game management, but the combination of those deficiencies will only continue to jeopardize player health and safety and the integrity of the game that has taken decades to build.” (emphasis added)

The overarching concern for the NFL should be that the replacement referees’ influence negatively affects the outcome of individual games and/or lead to disinterest in the game among casual fans. An unintended consequence; however, could be that the league’s failure to do everything in its power to protect the integrity of the game through a resolution with the NFL Referees Association has a spillover effect in its pending litigation aimed to prevent states, such as New Jersey, from implementing sports betting schemes. How can Commissioner Goodell say that protecting the integrity of NFL football is his pinnacle concern while he allows replacement referees to continue to botch fumble calls and fail to stop the clock on incomplete passes?

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Leave it to these replacement refs to f…up tonights game.Every Packers fan even I know that that ball was Intercepted plus it was offensive pass interference againts the Seahawks but thanks to those asshole stupid Seahawk ass kissing refs,DAMN Saehawks won.Thanks you punk ass refs.

Enter Your Comment I just got finished watching the Green Bay at Seattle game. I have NEVER SEEN ANYTHING SO DISGUSTING IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!!! There should be some kind of recourse that Green Bay has. These referees could not even referee a high school game let alone the NFL. Seattle was running around like they actually were entitled to the victory. All season it has been one bad call after another. No matter what team you may follow – these guys need to be OUT of the NFL and OUT OF FOOTBALL totally! When the pros do come back – they ought to start the season COMPLETELY OVER! This is a SHAM!!!!!!! C. Rose

Why are we blaming the refs? A penalty could be called on every play, holding,illegal contact beyond 5 yards, let’s make the game computer censored . No more refs, quit paying these sissies millions for entertainment, everyone wins superbowl 0 to 0. When I played the game I got hit every play. no big thing. This play was reviewed by real refs. did they get it wrong,yes. Is the answer call penalty on every play. How many calls does it take to change game? Real refs never miss a call right!

A plea to the English language… This article makes a completely unrelated analogy to gambling, then shows the author had attended at least one class of High School by being proud than he can find words in a dictionary, despite then displaying no knowledge of the implication of the meaning. Mistakes happen DESPITE a ‘firm adherence to a code’, not through a lack of application. Pathetic.

‘Integrity of the game’ is being totally misused here-there is nothing unfair going on. The officials are not as good, but that’s not the officials’ fault. This article is offensive to the officials involved.

And another thing, it’s not Roger Goodell’s personal responsibility to negotiate contracts-there are more than one party in discussions.

A plea to the English language… This article makes a completely unrelated analogy to gambling, then shows the author had attended at least one class of High School by being proud than he can find words in a dictionary, despite then displaying no knowledge of the implication of the meaning. Mistakes happen DESPITE a ‘firm adherence to a code’, not through a lack of application. Pathetic.

‘Integrity of the game’ is being totally misused here-there is nothing unfair going on. The officials are not as good, but that’s not the officials’ fault. This article is offensive to the officials involved.

And another thing, it’s not Roger Goodell’s personal responsibility to negotiate contracts-there is more than one party in discussions.